Using a large dataset of manufacturing firms from 65 countries, we examine whether and how firm inflexibility influences implied cost of equity over the period 1989–2018. We find that, on average, firms with higher levels of inflexibility have a higher implied cost of equity. These results are...

Using a large dataset of manufacturing firms from 65 countries, we examine whether and how firm inflexibility influences implied cost of equity over the period 1989–2018. We find that, on average, firms with higher levels of inflexibility have a higher implied cost of equity. These results are...

The scarcity of suitable proxies for asymmetric information has impeded empirical research from providing reliable evidence on whether information risk shapes equity pricing. In re-examining this unresolved question, we rely on firms' geographic distance from financial centers to gauge...

For a sample comprised of 36,105 U.S. firm-year observations from 1985 to 2008, we find that firms located in more religious counties enjoy cheaper equity financing costs. This result is robust to a battery of sensitivity tests, including alternative assumptions and model specifications,...

Using a comprehensive dataset of firms from seventy-nine countries, we document the incidence, determinants, and corporate policies of zombie firms from 2005 through 2016. Zombie firms account for roughly 10% of our observations. Using logit regressions, we find strong and robust evidence that...

In this study, we use board reforms across countries as a natural experiment to examine the effect of governance on firm leverage. We find that board reforms are associated with a statistically significant 1 percentage point increase in leverage overall, and a 5 percentage point increase on...